Instruments in Depth - The Oboe INSTRUMENTS IN DEPTH Flash is required for video playback Parts of the Oboe THE OBOE by Katie Scheele The oboe, a double reed instrument in the woodwind family, is one of the most beautiful, important, and unique musical instruments. With a long history dating back as far as ancient Greece, it has developed through the centuries into one of the most challenging and distinct instruments in the modern orchestra. Definition: Double Reed A type of reed consisting of two pieces of cane that vibrate against each other, used to produce a sound in various woodwind instruments including the oboe, English horn, and bassoon HISTORY Although the oboe made its orchestral debut in France in 1657, the instrument had many earlier forms dating back several centuries beforehand. Historians believe that the earliest rudimentary oboe-like instruments were first used around 2800 B.C., performing in royal funerals depicted in ancient drawings, and more sophisticated forms of early oboes can be traced to India during the twelfth to the seventh centuries B.C.

There, musicians used a conical instrument called an ottu, with a double reed but without any holes. Many varieties of this instrument were also found in Asia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Although these oboes can be traced back the farthest, the instrument that is believed to be the closest predecessor of the oboe is the medieval shawm. The shawm (developed from the Asian zurna) was made of wood and had a conical shape with a flared bell. It came in several lengths in order to have different pitches and had either a hole to put the double reed in or a bocal (a slightly angled piece of metal covered by cork at the end inserted into the instrument) for the reed to sit on. As time passed, musicians desired an instrument with a wider range and more control over pitches. During the mid 17th century, the first baroque oboe (called hautbois, meaning high-wood ) was created in France, where it was used to entertain the French court. Made of boxwood with several holes but only two or three keys, it gained immediate popularity in many countries.

During this time, the oboe da caccia ( hunting oboe ) was also created. This instrument had a curved body and was used in many of Bach's cantatas and masses. This instrument was primarily used in the Baroque period, as later instruments would take the place of this unusual instrument, which was difficult to build. Definition: Bocal A slightly angled metal tube with a cork base that serves as the mouthpiece of certain woodwind instruments. In the case of many instruments in the oboe family, the reed then rests on the bocal. CONSTRUCTION As music evolved, so did the oboe. The classical period brought on several more changes to the oboe—a narrower body (called the bore) and more keys, giving the instrument a much wider range. From these earlier forms came the modern oboe. This oboe is usually made from grenadilla wood, though some are made of other woods from the rainforest, and student model oboes are usually made of plastic or resin to avoid cracking. The oboe consists of three pieces: the top joint, the lower joint and the bell.

It has a very narrow bore (tube) and is played by blowing on a double reed. The modern oboe has a range of more than two and a half octaves, from a low Bb to an A or higher, and uses a key system called full conservatory, which has 45 pieces most commonly made of silver. Some popular oboe makers of today are F. Loree, Laubin, Howarth and Yamaha. Definition: Bore The body of a woodwind or brass instrument, through which air travels and vibrates to produce the sound. The shape of the bore has a strong impact on the instrument's timbre (tone color). The ottu, an Indian predecessor of the modern oboe The oboe da caccia or hunting oboe, shawm · Grinnell College Musical Instrument Collection Overview Contextual Associations The shawm in use in Europe during the Medieval and Renaissance periods is an end-blown conical-bore double-reed aerophone. The instrument pictured here is a modern replica of shawms used in the 14th century or earlier, as reconstructed from iconographic sources.

Its robust sound is best suited to outdoors music performed with other loud instruments, and it appears it was used in ensembles for royal and civic processions and to accompany dancing, most likely by musical professionals rather than amateurs. It was revived in the latter part of the 20th century as part of the early music movement; today it is most likely heard performed by student or professional musicians in early music ensemble concerts or at Renaissance fairs. Description The body of this shawm with its flaring bell is constructed from a single piece of hardwood turned on a lathe and given a pronounced conical bore. The top end of the bore terminates in a narrow brass tube called a staple that is countersunk into a larger hole at the top end of the body. A separate piece of turned wood called a pirouette is attached to the top end of the body with a tenon-and-socket joint, covering much of the staple from view and leaving only its tip protruding. Over this tip is slid the base of the double reed made of cane. Seven fingerholes and five vent holes are drilled into the wall of the body. Six of the fingerholes are in a straight line in two groups of three each.

The seventh and lowest fingerhole is drilled off center to make it more easily reachable by the player’s right hand baby finger. The five vent holes are all located below the bottom fingerhole and can be used to adjust the acoustical length of the instrument’s bore; upper ones can be stopped with wax to increase the bore’s sounding length. Player - Instrument Interface and Sound Production The player, whether seated or standing, holds the body of the shawm with both hands so that the reed is almost entirely inserted into his mouth cavity, his lips pinching only the base of the reed while pressed firmly against the top of the pirouette. The first three fingers of the left hand operate top three fingerholes; the four fingers of the other hand are used to cover the bottom four fingerholes. The instrument has no thumbhole, leaving both thumbs to assist in balancing the instrument. With all fingerholes covered, this shawm produces approximately a C4; it has a range of C4 - A5. The shawm is a melodic instrument best suited to play one diatonic scale with minimal chromatic alterations.

It requires an extremely strong airstream to make the reed speak, which contributes to the robust sound and high dynamic level of the instrument; it is not really possible to play at a low dynamic level. Origins/History/Evolution The European shawm of Medieval times might well have been modeled on Turko-Arabic double reeds such as the mizmār encountered by Europeans during the crusades. But some scholars point out that the concept of this instrument design might have originated in already extant European bagpipe chanters (see highland bagpipe ), which if removed from their bag and given a pirouette would basically be a shawm. By the 14th century there is iconographic evidence that shawms similar in design and length to the one pictured and described here were in use in European court and civic musical life. Shawms continued to be developed throughout the Medieval and Renaissance periods until, by the end of the 17th century, they were eclipsed by what is now called the Baroque oboe and the dulcian . Most of what is known about Medieval shawms is garnered from iconographic sources rather than extant instruments.

The shawm pictured here was made in the 1980s by the workshop of Gunter Korber, who used primarily iconographic sources and the study of extant Renaissance shawms to design this instrument for sale to musicians active in the early music movement. Bibliographic Citations Baines, Anthony. 1962. Woodwind Instruments and their History. New York: W.W. Norton. ________. 1984. “Shawm [chalmeye, shalme, shalmie, shalmuse].” NGDMI v.3: 364-371. Bate, Philip. 1962 (1956). The Oboe: An Outline of its History, Development and Construction. London: Ernest Benn Limited. ________, and Niall O’Loughlin. 1984. “Oboe.” NGDMI v.2: 792-808. Burgess, Geoffrey, and Bruce Haynes. 2004. The Oboe. New Haven: Yale University Press. Campbell, Murray, Clive Greated, and Arnold Meyers. 2004.

Musical Instruments: History, Technology, and Performance of Instruments of Western Music. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Carse, Adam. 1975 (1965). Musical Wind Instruments. New York: Da Capo Paperback. Duffin, Ross W. 1994. "Shawm and Curtal," In A Performer's Guide to Renaissance Music. ed. Jeffery T. Kite-Powell. New York: Schirmer Books, pp. 69-75. Joppig, Gunther. 1988. The Oboe and the Bassoon. Portland: Amadeus Press. Van Cleve, Libby. 2004. Oboe Unbound: Contemporary Techniques. Lanham, Maryland: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. Instrument Details Shawm | Define Shawm at Dictionary.com shawm an early musical woodwind instrument with a double reed: the forerunner of the modern oboe.

Origin of shawm Greek 1300-1350 1300-50; Middle English schalme < Middle French chaume < Latin calamus stalk, reed < Greek kálamos reed; replacing Middle English schallemele < Middle French chalemel (see chalumeau ) Dictionary.com Unabridged Examples from the Web for shawm Expand Historical Examples A figure is given (Galpin, p. 159) of a goat playing on a shawm from a carving of the twelfth century at Canterbury. The Road to the Open Arthur Schnitzler In the second wagon will follow the musicians, the players upon the drum, the fife, and the shawm. British Dictionary definitions for shawm Expand noun 1. (music) a medieval form of the oboe with a conical bore and flaring bell, blown through a double reed Word Origin C14 shalmye, from Old French chalemie, ultimately from Latin calamus a reed, from Greek kalamos Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd.

1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 Word Origin and History for shawm Expand n. "medieval oboe-like instrument," mid-14c., schalmeis (plural), also schallemele (late 14c.), from Old French chalemie, chalemel, from Late Latin calamellus, literally "a small reed," diminutive of Latin calamus "reed," from Greek kalamos, from PIE *kole-mo- "grass, reed" (cf. Old English healm "straw," Latin culmus "stalk"). Mistaken as a plural and trimmed of its "-s" ending from mid-15c. Related: Shawmist.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper shawm | musical instrument | Britannica.com musical instrument crumhorn Shawm, (from Latin calamus, “reed”; Old French: chalemie), double-reed wind instrument of Middle Eastern origin, a precursor of the oboe . Like the oboe, it is conically bored; but its bore, bell, and finger holes are wider, and it has a wooden disk (called a pirouette, on European shawms) that supports the lips and, on Asian instruments, holds them away from the reed. The tone, intended for open air, is powerful. Shawms. Jan Klimeš It appeared near the beginning of the Christian Era and was widely disseminated by Islāmic influence. Numerous varieties (including the Indian shahnāʾī and nāgasuram, the Chinese suo-na, or so-na, and the Balkan and Middle Eastern zurla and zurna) are still played from Morocco eastward and in Islāmic areas of West Africa . They are generically called either shawms or oboes.

The shawm was introduced into Europe during the Crusades and was widely used in dance and ceremonial music . Instruments of various pitches, from treble to great bass, were constructed in the 16th century. Though it declined in Europe after the 17th century, it survived in Spain , modernized with complete keywork, as the tenora (tenor) and tiple (treble), which lead the bands for the sardana, the national dance of Catalonia. Its compass is about two octaves. Learn More in these related articles: Shawm S Shawm The shawm was a medieval and Renaissance musical instrument of the woodwind family made in Europe from the late 13th century until the 17th century. It was developed from the oriental zurna and is the predecessor of the modern oboe . The body of the shawm was usually turned from a single piece of wood, and terminated in a flared bell somewhat like that of a trumpet . Beginning in the 16th century, shawms were made in several sizes, from sopranino to great bass, and four and five-part music could be played by a consort consisting entirely of shawms.

All later shawms had at least one key allowing a downward extension of the compass; the keywork was typically covered by a perforated wooden cover called the fontanelle. The bassoon -like double reed, made from the same Arundo donax cane used for oboes and bassoons, was inserted directly into a socket at the top of the instrument, or in the larger types, on the end of a metal tube called the bocal. The pirouette, a small cylindrical piece of wood with a hole in the middle resembling a thimble, was placed over the reed—this acted as a support for the lips and embouchure . Since only a short portion of the reed protruded past the pirouette, the player had only limited contact with the reed, and therefore limited control of dynamics. The shawm’s conical bore and flaring bell, combined with the style of playing dictated by the use of a pirouette, gave the instrument a piercing, trumpet-like sound well-suited for out-of-doors performance.

Etymology In German the shawm is called Schalmei or Pommer; the first word is believed to derive from the Latin calamus (itself from Greek κάλαμος), meaning "reed or stalk". However, it is also possible that the name comes from the Arabic salamiya or salameya (<big>سلامية</big>), a traditional oboe from Egypt , as the European shawm seems to have been developed from similar instruments brought to Europe from the Near East during the time of the Crusades. This is borne out by the very similar names of many folk shawms used as traditional instruments in various European nations: in Spain , many traditional shawms with different names can be found, such as the castilian or aragonese dulzaina (sometimes called chirimía too); the valencian and catalan shawms (xirimia, dolçaina or gralla) or the navarrese gaita. In Portugal there's an instrument called charamela; and the name of Italian shawm is ciaramella.

Use of shawms Instruments resembling the medieval shawm can still be heard in many countries today, played by street musicians or military bands . The latter use would have been familiar to crusaders, who often had to face massed bands of Saracen shawms and nakers, used as a psychological weapon. It must have had a profound effect, as the shawm was quickly adopted by Europeans, for dancing as well as for military purposes. The standard outdoor dance band in the fifteenth century consisted of a slide trumpet playing popular melodies, while two shawms improvised countermelodies over it. In many Asian countries, shawm technique includes circular breathing allowing continuous playing without pauses for air. By the early 16th century, the shawm had undergone considerable development. The harsh tonality of the medieval shawm had been modulated somewhat by a narrowing of the bore and a reduction in the size of the fingerholes. This also extended the range, enabling the performer to play the notes in the second octave. Larger sizes of shawm were built, down to the great bass, two octaves below the soprano.

However, the larger sizes were unwieldy and impractical, making them somewhat of a rarity; the great bass, for example, could only be played with the performer standing on a small platform. The smaller sizes of shawm, chiefly the soprano, alto and sometimes the tenor, were more often coupled with the Renaissance trombone, or sackbut , and the majestic sound of this ensemble was much in demand by civic authorities. The shawm became standard equipment for town bands, or waits, who were required to herald the start of municipal functions and signal the major times of day. The shawm became so closely associated with the town waits (die Stadtpfeifer in German and I piffari in Italian) that it was also known as the wait-pipe. The shawm was reserved almost exclusively for outdoor performance—for softer, indoor music, other instruments such as the crumhorn and sordun were preferred. These were double reed instruments fitted with a capsule that completely enclosed the reed, which softened the sound but still did not allow for any variation in dynamics.

The 16th century proclivity for building instruments in a full range of sizes was naturally extended to the shawm, but the shawm consort provided to be a short-lived experiment. The extreme length of pipe of the bass instruments meant that few were built and played; instead, an ingenious solution was devised whereby the bore was in effect “folded back” upon itself, creating a much more manageable instrument. The new instrument was called dulcian in England , Fagott or fagotto in Germany and Italy , and bajón in Spain, and it became very popular as a general-purpose bass instrument, even in refined settings where shawms were considered inappropriate. The dulcian is the forerunner of the modern bassoon. Known by the Spanish term "chirimia," the shawm remains an important ritual instrument among Maya peoples of Highland Guatemala. Accompanied by a drum, the chirimia is frequently used in processions and in certain ritual dances, such as the Dance of the Conquest (Baile de la Conquista) and this is still played today.

Progeny of the shawm A particular alto shawm in F, with a range of nine notes, was called a bassett nicolo, not to be confused with the single-reed basset horn. The shawm inspired the later 17th century hautbois, an invention of the French musician Martin Hotteterre (d.1712). He is credited with devising essentially a brand-new instrument, one which borrowed several features from the shawm, chiefly its double reed and conical bore, but departed from it significantly in other respects, the most important departure being the fact the player places his lips directly on the reed with no intervening pirouette. Around 1670, the new French hautbois began replacing the shawm in military bands, concert music and opera; by 1700, the shawm had all but disappeared from concert life, although as late as 1830 shawms could still be heard in German town bands performing their municipal functions (Baines, 1991).

Curiously, the Germans and Dutch continued to manufacture an ornate version of the shawm, called deutsche Schalmey, well after the introduction of the French hautbois. Several examples of this instrument survive in European collections, although its exact musical use is unclear. Charumera The charumera(チャルメラ), or charumeru(チャルメル), is a double-reed instrument in traditional Japanese music descended from shawms brought to Japan by Portuguese Christian missionaries.. It is often used in kabuki theatre performances. Shawm - The Full Wiki The Full Wiki Note: Many of our articles have direct quotes from sources you can cite, within the Wikipedia article! This article doesn't yet, but we're working on it! See more info or our list of citable articles . Related top topics From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Shawm Zurna The shawm was a medieval and Renaissance musical instrument of the woodwind family made in Europe from the late 13th century until the 17th century. It was developed from the oriental zurna and is the predecessor of the modern oboe .

The body of the shawm was usually turned from a single piece of wood, and terminated in a flared bell somewhat like that of a trumpet . Beginning in the 16th century, shawms were made in several sizes, from sopranino to great bass, and four and five-part music could be played by a consort consisting entirely of shawms. All later shawms had at least one key allowing a downward extension of the compass; the keywork was typically covered by a perforated wooden cover called the fontanelle. The bassoon -like double reed, made from the same Arundo donax cane used for oboes and bassoons, was inserted directly into a socket at the top of the instrument, or in the larger types, on the end of a metal tube called the bocal . The pirouette, a small cylindrical piece of wood with a hole in the middle resembling a thimble, was placed over the reed—this acted as a support for the lips and embouchure . Since only a short portion of the reed protruded past the pirouette, the player had only limited contact with the reed, and therefore limited control of dynamics.

The shawm’s conical bore and flaring bell, combined with the style of playing dictated by the use of a pirouette, gave the instrument a piercing, trumpet-like sound well-suited for out-of-doors performance. Contents 7 External links Etymology In German the shawm is called Schalmei or Pommer; the first word is believed to derive from the Latin calamus (itself from Greek κάλαμος), meaning "reed or stalk". [1] However, it is also possible that the name comes from the Arabic salamiya or salameya ( سلامية ), a traditional oboe from Egypt , as the European shawm seems to have been developed from similar instruments brought to Europe from the Near East during the time of the Crusades .

This is borne out by the very similar names of many folk shawms used as traditional instruments in various European nations: in Spain , many traditional shawms with different names can be found, such as the castilian or aragonese dulzaina (sometimes called chirimía too); the valencian and catalan shawms (xirimia, dolçaina or gralla ) or the navarrese gaita. In Portugal there is an instrument called charamela; and the name of Italian shawm is ciaramella. Use of shawms Woman playing a bass shawm, ( Tobias Stimmer ca. 1500) Instruments resembling the medieval shawm can still be heard in many countries today, played by street musicians or military bands . The latter use would have been familiar to crusaders, who often had to face massed bands of Saracen shawms and nakers , used as a psychological weapon. It must have had a profound effect, as the shawm was quickly adopted by Europeans, for dancing as well as for military purposes.

[2] The standard outdoor dance band in the fifteenth century consisted of a slide trumpet playing popular melodies, while two shawms improvised countermelodies over it. In many Asian countries, shawm technique includes circular breathing allowing continuous playing without pauses for air. By the early 16th century, the shawm had undergone considerable development. The harsh tonality of the medieval shawm had been modulated somewhat by a narrowing of the bore and a reduction in the size of the fingerholes. This also extended the range, enabling the performer to play the notes in the second octave . Larger sizes of shawm were built, down to the great bass, two octaves below the soprano. However, the larger sizes were unwieldy and impractical, making them somewhat of a rarity; the great bass, for example, could only be played with the performer standing on a small platform. The smaller sizes of shawm, chiefly the soprano, alto and sometimes the tenor, were more often coupled with the Renaissance trombone, or sackbut , and the majestic sound of this ensemble was much in demand by civic authorities.

The shawm became standard equipment for town bands, or waits , who were required to herald the start of municipal functions and signal the major times of day. The shawm became so closely associated with the town waits (die Stadtpfeifer in German and I piffari in Italian) that it was also known as the wait-pipe . The shawm was reserved almost exclusively for outdoor performance—for softer, indoor music, other instruments such as the crumhorn and sordun were preferred. These were double reed instruments fitted with a capsule that completely enclosed the reed, which softened the sound but still did not allow for any variation in dynamics. The 16th century proclivity for building instruments in a full range of sizes was naturally extended to the shawm, but the shawm consort provided to be a short-lived experiment. The extreme length of pipe of the bass instruments meant that few were built and played; instead, an ingenious solution was devised whereby the bore was in effect “folded back” upon itself, creating a much more manageable instrument.

The new instrument was called dulcian in England , Fagott or fagotto in Germany and Italy , and bajón in Spain , and it became very popular as a general-purpose bass instrument, even in refined settings where shawms were considered inappropriate. The dulcian is the forerunner of the modern bassoon. Known by the Spanish term "chirimia," the shawm remains an important ritual instrument among Maya peoples of Highland Guatemala. Accompanied by a drum, the chirimia is frequently used in processions and in certain ritual dances, such as the Dance of the Conquest (Baile de la Conquista) and this is still played today. Progeny of the shawm A particular alto shawm in F, with a range of nine notes, was called a bassett nicolo [3] , not to be confused with the single-reed basset horn . The shawm inspired the later 17th century hautbois , an invention of the French musician Martin Hotteterre (d.1712).

He is credited with devising essentially a brand-new instrument, one which borrowed several features from the shawm, chiefly its double reed and conical bore, but departed from it significantly in other respects, the most important departure being the fact the player places his lips directly on the reed with no intervening pirouette. Around 1670, the new French hautbois began replacing the shawm in military bands, concert music and opera; by 1700, the shawm had all but disappeared from concert life, although as late as 1830 shawms could still be heard in German town bands performing their municipal functions (Baines, 1991). Curiously, the Germans and Dutch continued to manufacture an ornate version of the shawm, called deutsche Schalmey, well after the introduction of the French hautbois. Several examples of this instrument survive in European collections, although its exact musical use is unclear. Charumera The charumera (チャルメラ ?), or charumeru (チャルメル ?), is a double-reed instrument in traditional Japanese music descended from shawms brought to Japan by Portuguese Christian missionaries . [4] .

It is often used in kabuki theatre performances. See also Shawm : definition of Shawm and synonyms of Shawm (English) Zurna The shawm was a medieval and Renaissance musical instrument of the woodwind family made in Europe from the 12th century (at the latest) until the 17th century. It was developed from the oriental zurna and is the predecessor of the modern oboe . The body of the shawm was usually turned from a single piece of wood, and terminated in a flared bell somewhat like that of a trumpet . Beginning in the 16th century, shawms were made in several sizes, from sopranino to great bass , and four and five-part music could be played by a consort consisting entirely of shawms. All later shawms had at least one key allowing a downward extension of the compass; the keywork was typically covered by a perforated wooden cover called the fontanelle.

The bassoon -like double reed, made from the same Arundo donax cane used for oboes and bassoons, was inserted directly into a socket at the top of the instrument, or in the larger types, on the end of a metal tube called the bocal . The pirouette, a small cylindrical piece of wood with a hole in the middle resembling a thimble, was placed over the reed—this acted as a support for the lips and embouchure . Since only a short portion of the reed protruded past the pirouette, the player had only limited contact with the reed, and therefore limited control of dynamics. The shawm’s conical bore and flaring bell, combined with the style of playing dictated by the use of a pirouette, gave the instrument a piercing, trumpet-like sound well-suited for out-of-doors performance. Contents 7 External links Etymology In English the name only first appears in the 14th century.

There were originally three main variant forms, (1) schallemele (shamulle or shamble), (2) s(c)halmys (shalemeyes or chalemyes, all plural forms in Middle English ), and (3) sc(h)almuse (or schalmesse), each derived from a corresponding variant in Old French : chalemel, chalemie, and chalemeaux (the plural of chalemel), each in turn derived from the Latin calamus ("reed"), or its Vulgar Latin diminutive form, calamellus. (The name of a somewhat different reed instrument, the chalumeau , also shares this etymology.) The early plural forms were often mistaken for a singular, and new plurals were formed from them. The later reduction in the 15th and 16th centuries to a single syllable in forms such as schalme, shaume, shawme, and finally (in the 16th century) "shawm", was probably due to this confusion of plural and singular forms.

[1] In German the shawm is called Schalmei (or for the larger members of the family Bombard—also in English in the 14h century—later corrupted to Bombhardt and finally in the 17th century to Pommer [2] ); the first word is substantially identical to the Old French name for the same instrument, chalemie, and is believed to derive from the Latin calamus (itself from Greek κάλαμος), meaning "reed or stalk". [3] However, it is also possible that the name comes from the Arabic salamiya (سلامية), a traditional oboe from Egypt , as the European shawm seems to have been developed from similar instruments brought to Europe from the Near East during the time of the Crusades .

This is borne out by the very similar names of many folk shawms used as traditional instruments in various European nations: in Spain, many traditional shawms with different names can be found, such as the castilian or Aragonese dulzaina (sometimes called chirimía too); the valencian and catalan shawms (xirimia, dolçaina, or gralla ) or the navarrese gaita. In Portugal there is an instrument called charamela; and the name of Italian shawm is ciaramella (or: cialamello, cennamella). [4] Use of shawms Woman playing a bass shawm, ( Tobias Stimmer ca. 1500) Instruments resembling the medieval shawm can still be heard in many countries today, played by street musicians or military bands . The latter use would have been familiar to crusaders, who often had to face massed bands of Saracen shawms and nakers , used as a psychological weapon. It must have had a profound effect, as the shawm was quickly adopted by Europeans, for dancing as well as for military purposes.

[5] The standard outdoor dance band in the fifteenth century consisted of a slide trumpet playing popular melodies, while two shawms improvised countermelodies over it. In many Asian countries, shawm technique includes circular breathing allowing continuous playing without pauses for air. By the early 16th century, the shawm had undergone considerable development. The harsh tonality of the medieval shawm had been modulated somewhat by a narrowing of the bore and a reduction in the size of the fingerholes. This also extended the range, enabling the performer to play the notes in the second octave . Larger sizes of shawm were built, down to the great bass, two octaves below the soprano. However, the larger sizes were unwieldy and impractical, making them somewhat rare; the great bass, for example, could only be played with the performer standing on a small platform. The smaller sizes of shawm, chiefly the soprano, alto and sometimes the tenor, were more often coupled with the Renaissance trombone, or sackbut , and the majestic sound of this ensemble was much in demand by civic authorities.

The shawm became standard equipment for town bands, or waits , who were required to herald the start of municipal functions and signal the major times of day. The shawm became so closely associated with the town waits (die Stadtpfeifer in German and I piffari in Italian) that it was also known as the wait-pipe . The shawm was reserved almost exclusively for outdoor performance—for softer, indoor music, other instruments such as the crumhorn and sordun were preferred. These were double reed instruments fitted with a capsule that completely enclosed the reed, which softened the sound but still did not allow for any variation in dynamics. The 16th century proclivity for building instruments in a full range of sizes was naturally extended to the shawm, but the shawm consort proved to be a short-lived experiment. The extreme length of pipe of the bass instruments meant that few were built and played; instead, an ingenious solution was devised whereby the bore was in effect “folded back” upon itself, creating a much more manageable instrument.

The new instrument was called dulcian in England, Fagott or fagotto in Germany and Italy , and bajón in Spain, and it became very popular as a general-purpose bass instrument, even in refined settings where shawms were considered inappropriate. The dulcian is the forerunner of the modern bassoon. Known by the Spanish term "chirimia," the shawm remains an important ritual instrument among Maya peoples of Highland Guatemala. Accompanied by a drum, the chirimia is frequently used in processions and in certain ritual dances, such as the Dance of the Conquest (Baile de la Conquista) and this is still played today. Progeny of the shawm A particular alto shawm in F, with a range of nine notes, was called a bassett nicolo, [6] not to be confused with the single-reed basset horn . The shawm inspired the later 17th century hautbois , an invention of the French musician Martin Hotteterre (d.1712).

He is credited with devising essentially a brand-new instrument, one which borrowed several features from the shawm, chiefly its double reed and conical bore, but departed from it significantly in other respects, the most important departure being the fact the player places his lips directly on the reed with no intervening pirouette. Around 1670, the new French hautbois began replacing the shawm in military bands, concert music and opera; by 1700, the shawm had all but disappeared from concert life, although as late as 1830 shawms could still be heard in German town bands performing their municipal functions (Baines, 1991). Curiously, the Germans and Dutch continued to manufacture an ornate version of the shawm, called deutsche Schalmey, well after the introduction of the French hautbois. Several examples of this instrument survive in European collections, although its exact musical use is unclear. Charumera The charumera (チャルメラ ? ), or charumeru (チャルメル ? ), is a double-reed instrument in traditional Japanese music descended from shawms brought to Japan by Portuguese Christian missionaries .

[7] It is often used in kabuki theatre performances. Modern performance City of Lincoln Waites (The Mayor of Lincoln's own Band of Musick) See also Contact Us SHAWM REEDS After 50 years of experience and more than one million bassoon reeds made, "MY REEDS" has finally come to a conclusion: every shawm players needs his own reed and this is our aim for his personalized reeds. For this reason we have thought about creating MY REED my one and only reed for my shawm! My Reeds are made of tube canes that come from our production of canes from the South of France, dried in a very natural way then matured for at least two years. We can produce shawm reeds with different sizes to satisfy any personal needs. In this way each shawm player can create his personal reeds. Don't exitate to request us any personalization! THE SHAWM The shawm was a medieval and Renaissance musical instrument of the woodwind family made in Europe from the late 13th century until the 17th century.

It was developed from the oriental zurna and is the predecessor of the modern oboe. The body of the shawm was usually turned from a single piece of wood, and terminated in a flared bell somewhat like that of a trumpet. Beginning in the 16th century, shawms were made in several sizes, from sopranino to great bass, and four and five-part music could be played by a consort consisting entirely of shawms. All later shawms had at least one key allowing a downward extension of the compass; the keywork was typically covered by a perforated wooden cover called the fontanelle. The bassoon-like double reed, made from the same Arundo donax cane used for oboes and bassoons, was inserted directly into a socket at the top of the instrument, or in the larger types, on the end of a metal tube called the bocal. The pirouette, a small cylindrical piece of wood with a hole in the middle resembling a thimble, was placed over the reed this acted as a support for the lips and embouchure.

Since only a short portion of the reed protruded past the pirouette, the player had only limited contact with the reed, and therefore limited control of dynamics. The shawm's conical bore and flaring bell, combined with the style of playing dictated by the use of a pirouette, gave the instrument a piercing, trumpet-like sound well-suited for out-of-doors performance. Language Log » The shawm and its eastern cousins The shawm and its eastern cousins « previous post | next post » I have long been intrigued by the Chinese instrument called suǒnà 嗩吶 (double-reeded horn). Because of the sound and shape of the name, and the fact that the characters used to write it both have mouth radicals, indicating that they are being used to convey pronunciation rather than meaning, I have always suspected that suǒnà 嗩吶 was the transcription of a foreign word. This suspicion was underscored by the time (medieval period) and direction (from the Western Regions [as attested in wall paintings and plastic art]) that it entered the panoply of Chinese musical instruments.

There are at least half a dozen different combinations of various characters for transcribing the sound of this word (see Hànyǔ dà cídiǎn 漢語大詞典 [Unabridged Dictionary of Sinitic], 3.461b]). After poking around in the online resources, I soon realized that suǒnà 嗩吶 is cognate with a long list of the names of instruments from Central Asia and the Middle East. Thus we have Arabic zamr, Turkish zūrnā , and Persian surnāy . There are even parallels in South Asia with Hindi-Urdu shehnai (there are many different spellings) and in Southeast Asia with Javanese saruni. In Japan this instrument is called charumera or charamera, which comes from charamela, the Portuguese word for shawm (in modern Japanese the word for shawm is shōmu). Cf. " Magi, myrrh, and mummies " (12/24/14). The granddaddy of all these related instruments is Iranian.

The history of the Persian surnāy dates back to the Achaemenid Dynasty (550-330 BCE), and was used to play at the end of the day from the city gate or from the local administration building. This custom persisted in England until the 19th century, the town waits playing shawms to mark the hours. From the Wikipedia article on sorna, which also informs us: The word sorna is a Pahlavi derivative of sūrnāy (literally "strong flute"), which is a compound of 'sūr-' (strong) and '-nāy' (flute). Because of my studies of medieval and renaissance English literature in college, especially Chaucer, I was quite familiar with the shawm. One can still hear it played at early music festivals as well as at medieval and renaissance fairs. See here , here , and here . Like the suǒnà 嗩吶, the shawm makes a loud, raucous, piercing sound, so — along with instruments like the bagpipe — it is particularly well suited for parades, processions, and other occasions for outdoor music.

The suǒnà 嗩吶 and its relatives have the typical raspy sound of other double reeded instruments. See: Eventually the shawm developed into the oboe family of instruments (see also here ). Now, with the wondrous assistance of YouTube, let us hear for ourselves what the suǒnà 嗩吶 and its closest relatives sound like: A Turk playing a zurna (make sure your sound isn't turned up too high; this clip is a bit shrill). A Chinese musical performance in which the suǒnà 嗩吶 features prominently; the music itself is distinctively East Asian sounding in terms of mode and melody. It seems that the instrument is called zurna or sunay by the Uyhgurs, and apparently it's quite common to see sunay buskers. Here , here , here , and here are some lively examples.

Question: The shawm has developed into which modern musical instrument?
Answer: OBOE